Country no. 44 on my World Karaoke Tour: this year in Jerusalem!

I’m not sure why it took me so long to finally make it to Israel. Although I’m an atheist, I was raised Jewish, and the “land of milk and honey” is therefore my ancestral homeland. Plus, the country is a bonanza for a history buff like me. Some of the earliest civilisations in the world arose in areas that are now encompassed within Israel’s borders.

Jerusalem, the capital city, is renowned as one of the most beautiful metropolises in the world (and when I visited, Jerusalem didn’t disappoint in that regard). It also played significant roles in the formation of three major world religions, and is still regarded as sacred by those religions’ adherents. Anyway, I visited Israel for the first time in my life in December 2016. When I did, and the expectations that I’d formed over several decades were matched to reality, I was impressed by my experience.

Singing in Jerusalem

The historical and cultural aspects of my initial sojourn in Israel will be covered in a future post, as they deserve a fuller discussion. But we all know what’s most important for this blog when I’m reminiscing about a destination. 🙂 When I landed at Ben Gurion International Airport, I looked forward to adding Israel to my World Karaoke Tour. Just about a month earlier, Hungary had become the 43rd country in which I’d karaoked; and now I was eager to increase that country count once again!

During my time in the Holy Land, I was based in Jerusalem, although I made excursions to Tel Aviv; Masada; the Dead Sea; and Bethlehem (which is in the West Bank, and thus part of the Palestinian Territories.) So it was in Jerusalem that I made my Israeli singing debut.

The venue was a bar called Capricorn Karaoke. Raphael, who served as both bartender and KJ, was quite a character. He made sure that I had a good time. He also made sure that I imbibed plenty of alcohol. 🙂

Me with Raphael, the bartender / KJ at Capricorn Karaoke.

For my opening number, I anticipated doing one of two songs in Hebrew that I’d practiced beforehand: either (1) the Hava Nagila, a very upbeat dance song that you can hear at just about any Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, or Jewish wedding; or (2) Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. However, my hopes were dashed; Raphael’s song list didn’t include Hava Nagila, and while I did find Hatikvah in the song book, he insisted that he only allows patrons to sing it at the very end of the night — around 3:30 a.m. or so — and was unwilling to make an exception for me. Admittedly, “Hatikvah” doesn’t exactly feature the type of up-tempo melody that fires up a crowd. Still, I was deprived of the opportunity to sing in the local tongue; and Hebrew thereby failed to become only the fourth language (after English, Spanish, and Italian) in which I’d ever karaoked.

Since there were no other Hebrew tunes that I felt sufficiently comfortable with or prepared to perform in public, my focus in choosing my singing material at Capricorn had to change. Luckily, I had a Plan B.

Because I keep up with the news when I’m travelling, I knew that the legendary pop singer George Michael had tragically passed away the previous day, on Christmas, at the age of 53. I decided to honour his memory by performing one of my favourite songs of his: “Careless Whisper.” Now, I wouldn’t ordinarily choose this particular song — or anything by Mr. Michael, really — as my vocal range doesn’t approach what his was. “Careless Whisper” does have some high notes that can be difficult for many male singers to reach.

All things considered, though, I feel that my special memorial rendition of “Careless Whisper” went better than it had any right to. You can watch it here. However, you might want to mute the volume between the 4:26 and 4:46 marks of the video; that was the portion of the song that proved just a little too taxing for my voice. 🙂

My second song of my appearance at Capricorn was one of my standards that’s well within my range: “Oh, Pretty Woman,” by Roy Orbison, who has been dead since 1988. (Mr. Orbison succumbed to a heart attack when he was 52, one year younger than Mr. Michael’s age when a heart attack similarly brought about his demise.) Here I am belting out “Oh, Pretty Woman” in Jerusalem:

(My third song of the evening, John Lennon’s “Imagine,” wasn’t recorded on video.)

And that is how, on Tuesday, December 26, 2016, Israel became the 44th country in which I’d karaoked. When this occurred, it wasn’t just Boxing Day (as the day following Christmas is known in much of the world); it was also in the midst of Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights. (Chanukah came relatively late in 2016.) Being able to karaoke in Israel was a nice Chanukah present for me. 🙂

The menorah in front of the Western Wall, illuminated on the third night of Chanukah.

Incidentally, speaking of “Hava Nagila,” which I would have liked to perform myself, here’s a version of it that I found on YouTube that I really like:

Meanwhile, I now anticipate that the next new language for me in which I’ll attempt to sing will be German; I’m intending to sing the 1980s classic “99 Luftballons” — the original version with lyrics in Deutsch — when I journey to Berlin this July.

Onward to Jordan

Following my stay in Israel, I headed across the border to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Sadly, I wasn’t fated to sing in Jordan. Whilst in the Jordanian capital of Amman, I had expected to hit up a hotel bar, the Khuttar Cafe, that usually offers karaoke on Tuesday nights, given that the nights that I spent in Amman included a Tuesday. But on that particular Tuesday, the Khuttar Cafe canceled the karaoke show. They never provided an explanation for the cancellation, despite multiple inquiries by me on their Facebook page. Boo, Khuttar Cafe! And neither I, nor the concierges at any of the hotels at which I lodged in Jordan, was able to find any other venue that had karaoke on any night of the week.

Jordan wasn’t fated to be country no. 45 on my World Karaoke Tour. It joined the likes of Cambodia and Ireland on the list of nations to which I’ve travelled without singing.

Despite the disappointing lack of karaoke, Jordan didn’t suck. Checking off a major item on my bucket list, I toured the fabled arachaeological site of Petra. You can read much more about my exploration of Petra in my next post!

A view of the Dead Sea in Israel (with Jordan on the other side). At 423 metres (1,388 feet) below sea level, this sea and its surrounding shore form the lowest area on Earth’s surface.

Is Israel on your bucket list?

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10 thoughts on “Country no. 44 on my World Karaoke Tour: this year in Jerusalem!”

When in Germany, there are few other German songs that were big on the pop charts in the US you might also want to learn. Rock Me Amadeus and Der Komissar both come to mind, although German rapping is pretty difficult for an English speaker.

@Michael: Singing in the amphitheatre in Mauerpark was actually the impetus for me GOING to Berlin in July. I just have to hope the karaoke show doesn’t get rained out on the only Sunday when I’ll be there.

I do want to go to Israel someday (and Jordan as well – Petra is high on my list). I don’t know that I’d ever be brave enough to sing karaoke let alone in a foreign language. Too bad that you couldn’t find a karaoke spot in Amman.

@Rhonda: Yeah, I saw a few cool things in Amman but overall, even aside from the lack of karaoke it was a pretty boring city and not one of the highlights of my trip. 🙂 Petra, on the other hand, fully deserves to be high on anyone’s list.

Oh wow I do actually know Hava Nagila – I didn’t recognize the song name but I know the song itself after I hit play on the YouTube video – you’re right – it’s a great version 🙂 Congrats on country 44 – sorry that you didn’t have the chance to sing in Hebrew.

Both Israel and Jordan are on my list of countries I would love to see – glad to hear you enjoyed Jordan even though you didn’t get the chance to sing. Happy travels!

@Megan: Next time I go to Israel, I’ll find a different place to sing where they have Hava Nagila. 🙂 Jordan is a great county and Petra is only one of the interesting things to see there. Just don’t allot too much time to Amman. 🙂 Amman also isn’t the most exciting place to spend New Year’s Eve. 🙂

Meet the H-Bomb!

Hello there! I'm an attorney and worldwide karaoke singer who's based in New York City. So far I've sung karaoke in 64 countries around the globe, plus Easter Island - as well as all 50 U.S. states! This website chronicles my World Karaoke Tour as well as my general travel adventures. Learn more

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